Bush Says Will Sign Campaign Finance Bill ( NEWS CONFERENCE, El Salvador )

REUTERS ^ | 3/24/2002 | REUTERS

[TLBSHOW]

Bush Says Will Sign Campaign Finance Bill

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (Reuters) -

President Bush (news - web sites) said on Sunday he would sign landmark campaign finance reform legislation with only a slight hesitation, reflecting his ongoing concerns about the measure.

"I won't hesitate" signing it, Bush said at a joint news conference with Salvadoran President Francisco Flores as the president wrapped up a four-day trip to Latin America. "It will probably take about three seconds to get to the W, I may hesitate on the period, and then rip through the Bush."

The legislation to reduce the influence of money in politics won final congressional approval last week, and Bush has pledged to sign it soon.

The bill would ban unlimited contributions known as "soft money" to national political parties, limit such donations to state and local parties and restrict broadcast ads by outside groups shortly before elections.

Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, whose investigation of Bill Clinton's sex life resulted in the president's impeachment in 1998, is to lead a legal challenge that will seek to knock down most of the measure as unconstitutional.

Bush said he felt the campaign bill did not fully address the need to require identification of who is funding so-called independent groups that introduce "scurrilous, untrue" television advertisements in the last days of a campaign, as he said happened to him in his 2000 presidential campaign.

"I've always thought that people who pump money into the political system, we ought to know who they are," he said.

Bush said that nonetheless the "bill is a better bill than the current system," but that some parts of it might not stand up to a court challenge.

[oldvike]

LMAO! McCarthy has nothing on you.

[Dane]

No it won't because the Rats will still attack Bush over messing up the CFR Bill.

Really? If they did that Bush would say.

Hey, look I signed a bill sent up from Congress(i.e a democrat Seante), I can't help it if they didn't send me a good bill or something in that vein. He would have the high ground.

[Japedo]

If you "play politics" with MY Bill of Rights, you lose my vote.

End of sentence.

Nicely said Lazamataz!!! BTTT!!

[Dane]

If you "play politics" with MY Bill of Rights, you lose my vote.

End of sentence.

Then I guess you will never vote again. Nice sentiment but impractical amd pollyanish, IMHO.

Just like SCOTUS put to rest the line item veto, they will do the same with the most vile parts of CFR.

[Redcloak]

READ MY LIPS...

George W. Bush on Campaign Finance Reform

Ban soft money, but no public financing of elections

GORE [to Bush]: If I’m president, the first bill I will send to Congress is the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. And the reasons it’s that important is that all of the issues like prescription drugs for seniors that is opposed by the drug companies, will be easier to pass if we limit the influence of special interests.

BUSH: I am not going to lay down my arms in the middle of a campaign for somebody who has got no credibility on the issue. I would support an effort to ban corporate soft money & labor union soft money. I believe there needs to be instant disclosure on the Internet as to who’s given to whom.

GORE: You have attacked my character and credibility and I am not going to respond in kind. One serious problem is that our system of government is being undermined by too much influence coming from special interest money.

BUSH: I want people to hear what he just said. He is for full public financing of congressional elections. I’m absolutely, adamantly opposed to that.

Source: Presidential debate, Boston MA Oct 3, 2000

Ban some soft money; fewer restrictions on individuals

Bush has no interest in changing campaign finance rules. He has raised a record amount of money, more than $100M (though only a small part of that is “soft” money, $83M of it coming from individual donations). He also accepted $500,000 in the 1999 Texas legislative session from polluters he had exempted from mandatory cleanup rules. But he, like Gore, has responded to McCain’s challenge by devising a reform plan. It would:

• Ban soft money from unions and corporations, but not from individuals
• Raise the limit on individual donations from $1,000 to $3,400 in each election
• Introduce “paycheck protection”, by which union members would have to give approval for their dues to be spent on political activities
• Introduce weekly Internet disclosure of all contributions
• Reformers say the soft-money ban is undermined by the exemption for individuals. They detect (not surprisingly) an anti-union bias. And they know his heart is not in it.
  Source: The Economist, “Issues 2000” special Sep 30, 2000

  “Paycheck Protection”: no union-directed campaign donations

  Supports banning soft money contributions from labor unions & corporations because members/shareholders have no say in how those contributions are given
  • Supports ‘Paycheck Protection’ legislation so union members have the right to decide whether to direct money to political activities
  • Supports raising individual contribution limits
  • Supports instant disclosure of contributions; was the first presidential candidate to voluntarily implement this reform with disclosure on the Internet
  Source: GeorgeWBush.com: ‘Issues: Policy Points Overview’ Apr 2, 2000

  No government takeover of campaign finance

  Bush called Gore’s endowment proposal a “government takeover that replaces individual spending decisions with decisions made by an unelected government committee.” He said the plan echoed Clinton’s 1993 failed health care legislation. In a statement, Bush described his campaign finance overhaul proposal as “superior because it abolishes corporate and union soft money without creating taxpayer-financed elections.” Gore’s plan is nothing more than “welfare for politicians,” Bush’s spokesman said. Source: CNN.com AllPolitics Mar 27, 2000

  Full disclosure and no giving limits

  Q: Do you disagree with the recent Supreme Court decision that upheld limits on campaign contributions?
  A: In my state that’s the way it is. People can give any amount they want to give so long as there’s disclosure. That Supreme Court case was [too] liberal an interpretation of the Constitution. I believe in freedom of speech. I understand there’s going to be limits and I’ll live with them. But I believe the best policy is to say individuals can give and then have instant disclosure on the Internet. Source: GOP debate in Los Angeles Mar 2, 2000

  No corporate or union soft money.

  Q: Where do you stand on campaign finance reform? A: We ought to ban corporate soft money, and we ought to ban labor union soft money. We ought to make sure that labor bosses cannot spend union members’ money without their permission. Thirdly, we should not allow federal candidates to take money from one campaign and roll it over into another campaign. And members of the United States Congress should not be allowed to raise money from federal lobbyists during a session. Source: GOP Debate on the Larry King Show Feb 15, 2000

  Agrees to no negative ads; stop tearing each other down

  Q: [to Bush & Forbes]: Will you agree not to run any negative ads against each other?

  FORBES. The answer is if being negative is telling the truth I will continue to tell the truth. People deserve it, we deserve an honest and open and vigorous debate. And if a man breaks a pledge [re 1997 tax cuts], the voters ought to know it.

  BUSH: I’ll run positive ads. Listen, I cut taxes as the governor. That’s a fact. That is the bottom line. The people of my state know my record and they endorsed it with an election. And yet if you look at [Forbes’] ads it doesn’t say that. I don’t mind debates. I do mind Republicans tearing each other down.

  FORBES. You’re not going to win the White House by making pledges that are then broken. We’ve been through that before, particularly on taxes. A pledge made should be a pledge kept. And in Texas it was your own party that saved you from breaking that pledge. You tried to break it, they blocked you.

  Source: (cross-ref to Forbes) GOP Debate in Michigan Jan 10, 2000

  Supports tweaking campaign finance rules

  Bush proposes lifting the $1,000 limit on individual contributions and requiring full disclosure of contributors. Source: Time Magazine, p. 37, col. 2 Jul 5, 1999
  • Click here for 8 older quotations from George W. Bush on Government Reform.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Government Reform.
  • Click here for policy papers on Government Reform.

 

Source

Sounds kinda like he lied don't it? ...Just like his daddy.

[Lazamataz]

Then I guess you will never vote again.

I vote for plenty of people who do not "play politics" with my Bill of Rights.

[TLBSHOW]

and you are a democrat plant

[Dane]

Sounds kinda like he lied don't it? ...Just like his daddy.

Where did he lie? The hard money contirbutions are being lifted, soft money from corporations and unions has been limited, and paycheck protection has been done with an EO.

The worst part of the current CFR are the ad bans 30 and 60 days before an eletion, and that will be struck down by SCOTUS.

OH BTW, tell me the number of bill's passed that exactly are verbatim of what a President asks when one house of government is controlled by the opposing politcal party?

I would guess the answer would be zero, but that does not matter to you. You do your pretty HTML format and that is it. Your reply refutes nothing.

[Dane]

I vote for plenty of people who do not "play politics" with my Bill of Rights.

Well then you will be walking in the wilderness for a long time. Politics is the art of the possible and has been played by Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Jefferson and all the other founding fathers.

[Lazamataz]

Politics is the art of the possible

You misspelled 'incremental oppression'.

Hope that helps heaps.

[Howlin]

I saw this press conference. This "article" leaves out QUITE a bit of what Bush said; specifically, he went through EACH problem he has with this bill.

[oldvike]

, he went through EACH problem he has with this bill.

Yet he's going to sign it anyway.

[Howlin]

President Bush Jokes About Signing Unconstitutional CFR Bill

That is a DAMN lie, Todd.

[Joe Hadenuf]

President Bush has lost my vote. Between his policies towards the illegal alien invasion and now this, I wont get fooled again.

[Howlin]

So tell us all, who IS an acceptable ELECTABLE candidate?

[Lazamataz]

So tell us all, who IS an acceptable ELECTABLE candidate?

No one. Not even Ronald Reagan could get elected 20 years later. We are devolving, quickly, into yet another common tyranny.

We have been flirting with Socialism since the 1930's, and will continue to embrace more and more Socialism and Statism until our every move is monitored and logged and our income is returned to us 'according to our need'.

Maybe freedom might be possible in some far-flung space colony, if we are lucky enough to get off the planet, but I'm not seeing much hope here on Earth.

[Walkin Man]

"I won't hesitate" signing it, Bush..."It will probably take about three seconds to get to the W, I may hesitate on the period, and then rip through the Bush."

How easy it is for the President to trash the Constitution and his oath then laugh about it to boot! As far as the war goes W has done a great job but other than that it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between him and a democrat. I'm sure a lot of country club rino Repub's think thats great but if he keeps it up lots of conservatives will be staying home for his reelection because they will have no one to vote for. I wonder if I can vote for a man that rewards lawbreakers for their crimes and laughs as he signs away the rights contained in the Constitution that men have fought and died for.

[Howlin]

Well, let's just give up then. Suits me. I sure have plenty of other stuff to do to occupy my time.

Enjoy democratic rule for the rest of your life. (They WILL be coming for your guns.)

[Lazamataz]

Well, let's just give up then. Suits me. I sure have plenty of other stuff to do to occupy my time.

No, my goal is to postpone the inevitable as long as possible. Perhaps even long enough for me to get all old and drool-y and incontinent and uncaring about freedom since I am in a nursing home.